Bro­ken sewer line causes sink­hole

CAM­BRIDGE — Cam­bridge De­part­ment of Pub­lic Works will be re­pair­ing a sink­hole and bro­ken sewer pipe, which de­vel­oped Wed­nes­day morn­ing on Woods Road at the U.S. Route 50 in­ter­sec­tion in front of the Hardee’s.

The three-foot sink­hole has closed a por­tion of Woods Road, and pub­lic works has closed the turn lane on east Route 50, which takes traf­fic onto Woods Road in front of the Hardee’s.

Lo­cal traf­fic only will be al­lowed to ac­cess busi­nesses in the af­fected area from the di­rec­tion of state Route 16. Route 50 traf­fic may ac­cess Woods Road using a de­tour to Route 16 and Ch­e­sa­peake Drive.

The bro­ken sewer line has not caused any wa­ter is­sues, ac­cord­ing to the city of Cam­bridge.

Crews will be­gin re­pair­ing the bro­ken sewer line at 6 a.m. Thurs­day, with re­pairs to the sink­hole will be­gin af­ter the sewer line is re­paired. Crews hope to have the sink­hole re­paired by Fri­day af­ter­noon.

Ac­cord­ing to the city of Cam­bridge, city and state de­part­ments are work­ing with util­ity providers and ser­vice providers to de­ter­mine the best course of ac­tion for quick re­pair.

The pre­lim­i­nary cause is be­lieved to be the breach of a side wall of the sewer pipe, which caused the rapid de­te­ri­o­ra­tion of sup­port­ing ground un­der­neath the pave­ment; how­ever, an of­fi­cial cause has yet to be de- ter­mined, ac­cord­ing city of Cam­bridge.

For more in­for­ma­tion, con­tact to the Cam­bridge De­part­ment of Pub­lic Works at 410-2281955.

PHOTO BY DUSTIN HOLT

A three-foot sink­hole has closed a por­tion of Woods Road in Cam­bridge along with the turn lane on east Route 50, which takes traf­fic onto Woods Road in front of the Hardee’s. Mo­torists can use state Route 16 at the Wal­mart for a de­tour.